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Hi Monica,
Have the previous sad and complicated searches etc been mostly on the Home Children (who went to Canada mid 19th-20th century) through organisations such as the Barnardo's or on evacuees in Canada? Your previous knowledge of RC is really helpful.
Thanks for the best wishes - they are returned.

Great - hopefully now my message may show up in your message box. If not, I can resend it! 

My cousin and I have been unable to find any information for CORB on the sisters.  We have relied solely on what Dorothy had mentioned and some information from my Mum.  Message two.

Thank you for pointing this out, Sarah.
The information is sensitive but I will say that I have been able to answer Donna's inquiry.
My database already includes her relatives.
Best wishes,
Chalstead


Hi Chalstead,

Donna will be unable to reply to private messages until she has made 2 posts.

If the information is non-sensitive it maybe helpful to other researchers to post on the thread???

Regards

Sarah

Hello,
My current PhD research focuses on British children who were evacuated to Canada in the Second World War. I research children who came privately or through CORB and have created a database of over 3000 children (I have their names, placement information, ship, etc).
I would love to hear from former evacuees or their families. Please contact me if you are trying to trace an evacuee. Moreover, I would also love to hear from those who remember these evacuees (in Britain, Canada, schools etc.)
I hope I can share my findings!
Thank you!

Thanks for your reply!
Your experience sounds very saddening. Unfortunately, it seems that it was not totally uncommon.
The children who went to Canada did so because their parents made an application to the Children's Overseas Reception Board or privately arranged for them to be sent to distant relatives etc. The window to apply to CORB was quite narrow -only June/July - September, 1940. Were you evacuated in 1939?
There was an application process and a medical exam. However, fundamentally, parents had to apply for their children's overseas evacuation. Therefore, it wasn't the government deciding (beyond the application process) who should stay and who should go.
As for their experiences - I am very careful to not paint their experiences with a broad brush. Each individual is different. Like the domestic evacuation within Britain, some children had a good experience whilst others suffered some form of abuse and homesickness. What I can say though is that so far, I have not uncovered any such cases of abuse in my work. That is certainly not to say that it didn't exist however. Further, domestic evacuation was organised as such that 'host families' had to take in evacuees - it was obligatory. In Canada however, all 'hosts' dedicated themselves to the cause by their own feel will. They were not paid for their care (although there was a very slight tax reduction) and could move the children on if everything got too much for them. With a population of over 10 million, absorbing 3000 evacuees was less of an influx.
I recently had an academic journal article published in the British Journal of Canadian Studies on this topic. I could send it to you if you wanted to private message me.
Best wishes!   

Fascinating subject. I was a six year old London evacuee who landed up in Nailsea with a family who exploited me for a year or so until my Mother found out & before long I was  back home in London.

I often wondered how some children were chosen to go to Canada, obviously a better way of life, or was it? I would love to hear of experiences of these children, good or bad I wonder?